Newcastle United's Alan Pardew has adopted a continental approach in the transfer market in recent times, and Mike Ashley questioned the lack of chances given to graduates, having ploughed milliions of pounds into the academy.
The only signing Pardew was allowed to make in the summer was a loan deal, with Joe Kinnear being the voice of the Newcastle owner saying: "Mike Ashley has put a lot of money into the academy, and I have seen the figures and Alan Pardew has spent £10million on young players.
"Perhaps it's time to see some of that money being well spent."
Opta Pro's data shows that, on average, Newcastle have had 1.6 club-trained players on the pitch in Premier League games.
But, Dutch goalkeeper Tim Krul counts as part of this.
Krul joined Newcastle from ADO Den Haag’s youth academy aged 17 in 2005, and has played in each of the club’s Premier League games so far this season.
So the 0.6 is down to fringe players in the squad - Paul Dummett and Sammy Ameobi - with experienced players Shola Ameobi and Steven Taylor coming through from a different decade.
Arsenal and Southampton are the top two clubs in the Premier League when it comes to having club-trained players on the pitch, with their figures at 3.9 and 3.5 per game respectively.
The only other clubs to have fielded more club-trained players than Newcastle so far this campaign have been Manchester United, Aston Villa and West Ham United, with Everton’s figure equal to United’s.
The figures in Spain, Germany and France are all considerably higher than that, though, with Barcelona at 7.2, Freiburg at 5.2 and Lyon at 5.8.
Source: Newcastle United Mad
Source: FOOTYMAD
